the importance of holding this view. Thus, my remarks in this part of the essay will be based in part on what Thomas does say and in part on what I think one can fairly infer from Thomas’s broader theological views. Thus, some of these remarks will, I hope, be Thomas-like, even if not explicitly stated in Thomas’s own words. To anticipate my argument here somewhat let me say that Thomas thinks that a many-faceted literal sense of Scripture is needed because of the Christian doctrine of God; because